2018–19 South African Premiership

The 2018–19 South African Premiership season (known as the ABSA Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd season of the Premiership since its establishment in 1996. The season began in August 2018 and concluded in May 2019, with Mamelodi Sundowns winning their second consecutive title.^[1]

Premiership

Dates	4 August 2018 – 11 May 2019
Champions	Mamelodi Sundowns (9th title)
Relegated	Free State Stars
Champions League	Mamelodi Sundowns Orlando Pirates
Confederation Cup	Bidvest Wits TS Galaxy
Matches played	240
Goals scored	542 (2.26 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mwape Musonda (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Cape Town City F.C. 5–0 Free State Stars (16 January 2019)
Biggest away win	Cape Town City F.C. 1–4 Kaizer Chiefs (15 September 2018)
Highest scoring	AmaZulu 3–3 Mamelodi Sundowns (16 September 2018) Orlando Pirates 4–2 Chippa United F.C. (8 January 2019) Polokwane City 3–3 Bidvest Wits (20 January 2019) Bloemfontein Celtic 2–4 Bidvest Wits (15 March 2019)
Longest winning run	Mamelodi Sundowns (5 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Mamelodi Sundowns (15 games)
Longest winless run	Baroka (9 games)
Longest losing run	Black Leopards (3 games)
← 2017–18 2019–20 → All statistics correct as of 11 May 2019.

Team Changes

The following teams changed division since the 2017–18 season.

To National First Division

Relegated from 2017-18 South African Premier Division

• Platinum Stars
• Ajax Cape Town

From National First Division

Promoted to 2018–19 South African Premiership

• Highlands Park
• Black Leopards

Teams

Stadium and Locations

Leopards

Johannesburg

AmaZulu

Celtic

Chippa

F.S. Stars

G. Arrows

Baroka

Sundowns
SuperSport

Maritzburg

Cape Town City

Polokwane

Joburg teams
Chiefs
Pirates
Wits
Highlands

Location of teams in the 2018–19 PSL.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity[2]
AmaZulu	Durban (Durban North)	King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium	10,000
Polokwane City	Polokwane	Peter Mokaba Stadium	45,500
Black Leopards	Thohoyandou	Thohoyandou Stadium	40,000
Mamelodi Sundowns	Pretoria (Marabastad)	Loftus Versfeld Stadium	51,762
Maritzburg United	Pietermaritzburg	Harry Gwala Stadium	12,000
SuperSport United	Pretoria	Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium	28,900
Chippa United	Port Elizabeth	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium	48,459
Golden Arrows	Durban(Lamontville)	Princess Magogo Stadium	12,000
Baroka	Polokwane	Peter Mokaba Stadium	45,500
Bidvest	Johannesburg (Braamfontein)	Bidvest Stadium	5,000
Highlands Park	Johannesburg	Balfour Park Stadium	13,500
Cape Town City	Cape Town (Green Point)	Cape Town Stadium	55,000
Bloemfontein Celtic	Bloemfontein	Dr. Petrus Molemela Stadium	22,000
Kaizer Chiefs	Johannesburg (Soweto)	FNB Stadium	94,736
Free State Stars	Bethlehem	Goble Park	20,000
Orlando Pirates	Johannesburg (Soweto)	Orlando Stadium	37,139

Number of teams by province

	Province	Number of teams	Teams
1	Gauteng	6	Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs, Mamelodi Sundowns, SuperSport United, Bidvest Wits and Highlands Park
2	KwaZulu-Natal	3	Maritzburg United, Golden Arrows and Amazulu
	Limpopo		Polokwane City, Baroka FC and Black Leopards
4	Free State	2	Free State Stars and Bloemfontein Celtic
5	Eastern Cape	1	Chippa United
	Western Cape		Cape Town City

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor (chest)
AmaZulu	Cavin Johnson	Nhlanhla Vilakazi	Umbro	SPAR
Baroka	Wedson Nyirenda	Mduduzi Mdantsane	Flair	Two Mountains
Bidvest Wits	Gavin Hunt	Thulani Hlatshwayo	Kappa	Bidvest
Black Leopards	Dylan Kerr	Jean Munganga	Umbro	N/A
Bloemfontein Celtic	John Maduka	Patrick Tignyemb	Kappa	N/A
Cape Town City	Benni McCarthy	Thamsanqa Mkhize	Umbro	SportPesa
Chippa United	Clinton Larsen	Mark Mayambela	Joma	Nelson Mandela Bay
Free State Stars	Nikola Kavazovic	Paulus Masehe	Lotto	N/A
Golden Arrows	Steve Komphela	Nkanyiso Mngwengwe	Made by club	N/A
Highlands Park	Owen Da Gama	Tapuwa Kapini	Kappa	Jonsson Workwear
Kaizer Chiefs	Ernst Middendorp	Itumeleng Khune	Nike	Vodacom
Mamelodi Sundowns	Pitso Mosimane	Hlompho Kekana	Puma	Ubuntu-Botho S&E
Maritzburg United	Eric Tinkler	Siyanda Xulu	Lotto	N/A
Orlando Pirates	Milutin Sredojević	Happy Jele	Adidas	Vodacom
Polokwane City	Jozef Vukusic	Jabulani Maluleke	XCo	N/A
SuperSports United	Kaitano Tembo	Dean Furman	Kappa	Engen

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Baroka	Doctor Khumalo	Mutual consent	12 May 2018[3]	Pre-season	Wedson Nyirenda	30 May 2018[4]
Celtic	Veselin Jelusic		14 June 2018[5]		Steve Komphela	20 June 2018[6]
Polokwane	Bernard Molekwa	Retained as assistant coach	27 June 2018[7]		Jozef Vukusic	27 June 2018[8]
Kaizer Chiefs	Steve Komphela	Resigned	21 April 2018[9]		Giovanni Solinas	13 July 2018[10]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
1	Mamelodi Sundowns	30	16	11	3	40	24	+16	59	Qualification for Champions League
2	Orlando Pirates	30	15	12	3	44	24	+20	57
3	Bidvest Wits	30	16	6	8	45	29	+16	54	Qualification for Confederation Cup
4	Cape Town City	30	13	9	8	47	35	+12	48
5	Polokwane City	30	11	11	8	38	35	+3	44
6	SuperSport United	30	12	8	10	29	29	0	44
7	Highlands Park	30	9	14	7	35	32	+3	41
8	Bloemfontein Celtic	30	11	7	12	35	37	−2	40
9	Kaizer Chiefs	30	9	12	9	33	29	+4	39
10	Golden Arrows	30	8	12	10	27	31	−4	36
11	AmaZulu FC	30	10	7	13	33	41	−8	31[b]
12	Chippa United	30	7	9	14	27	35	−8	30
13	Black Leopards	30	7	9	14	30	46	−16	30
14	Baroka FC	30	6	11	13	27	37	−10	29
15	Maritzburg United	30	6	9	15	22	32	−10	27	Qualification for Playoff Tournament
16	Free State Stars	30	6	9	15	31	47	−16	27	Relegation to National First Division

Source: Premier Soccer League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head goals scored; 7) Playoff
Notes:

1. TS Galaxy (from National First Division) are Nedbank Cup winners and also qualify for Confederation Cup.
2. AmaZulu had 6 points deducted for failing to pay former player Phineas Nambandi.

Results

Home \ Away	AMA	BAR	BID	BLA	BFC	CTC	CPU	FSS	LGA	HIG	KAI	MAM	MAR	ORL	POL	SSU
AmaZulu F.C.	—	1–0	2–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–3	3–3	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–0
Baroka F.C.	1–0	—	1–2	1–2	2–2	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–3	0–0
Bidvest Wits	3–0	3–1	—	3–1	1–2	2–3	2–0	3–0	2–2	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–1
Black Leopards	3–1	1–0	0–1	—	0–1	1–0	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–2	1–0	2–0
Bloemfontein Celtic	3–1	1–0	2–4	3–0	—	0–3	2–0	2–3	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–2	0–0
Cape Town City	3–0	2–2	0–2	3–1	3–2	—	1–1	5–0	0–0	1–1	1–4	2–1	3–2	2–2	0–0	2–0
Chippa United	0–1	1–0	0–1	2–2	0–1	0–2	—	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	0–1	2–2	0–1
Free State Stars	4–1	2–2	1–2	2–2	2–0	2–2	0–2	—	1–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	2–1	1–3	1–1	0–1
Golden Arrows	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–0	0–2	1–0	0–0	2–1	—	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–3
Highlands Park	1–2	2–1	2–1	2–2	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	—	0–0	1–2	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–1
Kaizer Chiefs	2–0	0–1	1–3	1–0	2–2	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	3–2	—	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0
Mamelodi Sundowns	0–2	0–0	1–1	3–0	0–0	3–2	3–2	3–1	2–0	0–0	1–1	—	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–2
Maritzburg United	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–2	2–2	0–0	1–2	—	0–1	3–1	3–1
Orlando Pirates	4–1	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	2–2	4–2	2–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	—	3–0	3–1
Polokwane City	3–2	2–0	3–3	3–1	1–2	1–2	1–3	1–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–2	—	1–1
SuperSport United	1–0	1–2	1–1	4–0	2–1	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	0–0	—

Updated to match(es) played on 17 Mar 2019. Source: PSL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Statistics

Top scorers

As of 11 May 2019

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[11]
1	Mwape Musonda	Black Leopards	16
2	Gift Motupa	Bidvest Wits	9
	Thembinkosi Lorch	Orlando Pirates F.C.
	Tshegofatso Mabasa	Bloemfontein Celtic F.C.
5	Knox Mutizwa	Golden Arrows	8
	Lebohang Maboe	Mamelodi Sundowns
	Mothobi Mvala	Highlands Park
	Mohammed Anas	Polokwane City
	Vincent Pule	Orlando Pirates F.C.
10	Mxolisi Macuphu	SuperSport United	7
	Siphelele Mthembu	Cape Town City
	Bongi Ntuli	AmaZulu
	Peter Shalulile	Chippa United

Assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists[11]
1	Deon Hotto	Bidvest Wits	13
2	Aubrey Modiba	SuperSport United	10
3	Jabulani Maluleke	Polokwane City	9
4	Fortune Makaringe	Maritzburg United	8
	Augustine Mulenga	Orlando Pirates
	Gaston Sirino	Mamelodi Sundowns
7	Thembinkosi Lorch	Orlando Pirates	7
8	Ndumiso Mabena	Bloemfontein Celtic	6
	Mduduzi Mdantsane	Baroka
	Themba Zwane	Mamelodi Sundowns

Clean Sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean Sheets
1	Patrick Tignyemb	Bloemfontein Celtic F.C.	11
1	Ronwen Williams	SuperSport United	10
3	Darren Keet	Bidvest Wits F.C.	9
3	Siyabonga Mbatha	AmaZulu F.C.	9
5	Richard Ofori	Maritzburg United	7
5	Peter Leeuwenburgh	Cape Town City F.C.	7
7	Nkosingiphile Gumede	Golden Arrows	6
7	Itumeleng Khune	Kaizer Chiefs F.C.	6
7	Daniel Akpeyi	Kaizer Chiefs F.C.	6
7	George Chigova	Polokwane City F.C.	6

Hat-tricks

Player	Club	Score	Opponent	Venue	Date
Mwape Musonda	Black Leopards	3–2	Chippa United F.C.	Thohoyandou Stadium, Thohoyandou	10 March 2019

Discipline

As of 17 March 2019

Player

• Most yellow cards: 10
  • Danny Phiri (Golden Arrows)
• Most red cards: 2
  • Nyiko Mobbie (Free State Stars)
  • Robyn Johannes (Bidvest Wits)
  • Taariq Fielies (Cape Town City)
  • Khuliso Mudau (Black Leopards)

Team

• Most yellow cards: 50
  • Bidvest Wits
• Most red cards: 4
  • Free State Stars
• Fewest yellow cards: 25
  • Black Leopards
• Fewest red cards: 0
  • Kaizer Chiefs
  • SuperSport United
  • AmaZulu
  • Chippa United

Attendances

#	Football club	Average attendance[12]
1	Kaizer Chiefs	17,161
2	Orlando Pirates	16,067
3	Black Leopards FC	11,049
4	Bloemfontein Celtic	10,690
5	Mamelodi Sundowns	8,427
6	Cape Town City	8,307
7	Maritzburg United	7,380
8	Chippa United	7,067
9	AmaZulu FC	5,767
10	Polokwane City FC	5,306
11	SuperSport United	5,219
12	Highlands Park	5,020
13	Baroka	4,595
14	Free State Stars	2,570
15	Golden Arrows	2,473
16	Bidvest Wits	2,437